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Last week I gave away 30-minutes of business breakthru coaching free to anyone who wanted it. Here are the top 3 common issues among entrepreneurs and solo-professionals.

1. Follow-up

One coach who specializes in working in training young athletes stated that once they fielded a phone call from a student asking for advice. While the coach was willing to speak with the child, she was unsure how she could turn this child into a paying client.

My suggestion was to assure the young athlete their conversation would remain private, however; since he was a minor, she needs to have contact info for his parents. (This particular situation, the coach didn’t already know the parents) Most kids understand and aren’t concerned with giving up their parents contact info. This allows the coach to follow-up with his parents and create the “know, like and trust” factor to develop into – a paying client!

2. Money

How do I talk about my fees? This one is really easy for me… I simple state, “Ok, Mr. Client, we agree to work together… now, lets talk about money” (just put it out there and be confident!) “My fee is $$$ to ______, I accept payment, in full, up front, via Paypal – which email address can I send the invoice to?” “Once I receive payment, we can get started!” You must keep clear and firm boundaries!

If I get any bartering, bickering or so forth, I simply state, “I’ve gotta put groceries in my fridge, and I cannot accept anything less than $$$.” I find that when you bring up groceries, that paints an image of you and your family cooking or shopping at the grocery store… no one wants to take food out of anybody’s mouth, right? That statement works every time and usually stops hagglers dead in their tracks.

PS. don’t take haggling as an insult, some people just like to see if they can get a discount… it’s in their DNA!

3. How do I get more clients?

You must be visible. In your community, and online. I can recommend three extraordinary books to help you get into the mind-set of creating a system to get more clients:

Final thoughts…

Accountability is key. You must be in ACTION and you must be accountable to your peers. I highly suggest you plug yourself in to a mastermind or accountability group. You are welcome to join one of mine for a very modest price of $17.97 a month. Check out The Web Coach INSIDER here.

Why is it that some consultants, coaches, and other independent professionals have all the business they need, while others struggle by with only a few clients?

Is there a hidden secret no one is telling you?

The answer may be simpler than you think. In this special report, you will discover three things you may be doing now that can actually prevent you from getting clients, how the Persistence Effect can liberate your marketing, and one simple habit you can begin today that may bring you all the clients you will ever need.

I’ve been working with self-employed professionals like you since 1992, helping my clients, students, and readers to make more money with less effort, and teaching them how to earn a better living doing what they love. Please take a few moments now to read these five simple ideas that can change your marketing forever.

WHEN LESS BECOMES MORE

It’s easy to think there is some hidden secret to marketing your business or professional practice. There are so many books to read, classes to take, and mentors, coaches, and consultants you could hire that it makes the process seem mysterious or overwhelming. But there is a simple answer and it’s the first of five secrets I’m going to share with you.

1. Choose a set of simple, effective things to do and do them consistently.

The real key to successful marketing is picking just a few simple, effective things to do and then doing those things consistently. This is how you can build your business more quickly by doing less.

Imagine that you were trying to fill a water barrel with a drinking glass. You would have to make trip after trip, going back to the faucet over and over. In marketing, this is like doing a little bit of networking, some haphazard follow-up, trying to get some publicity, giving a talk, buying a booth at a trade show, placing an ad, then writing an article…

Instead, why not use a bucket to fill your barrel? You can carry more water while making fewer trips. Instead of spreading yourself thin with a dozen different marketing strategies, you could simply do some networking with consistent follow-up, give some talks and follow up with those you meet, and that would be it C just three strategies: networking, public speaking, and following up. Your barrel fills faster, and you’re less tired.

Trying to do too much is one of the ways you may be sabotaging your own marketing efforts. Stop-and-start marketing can actually prevent you from getting clients. It wears you out running back and forth. You never spend enough energy on any one approach to really make a difference, but instead you make yourself less efficient and effective in all areas.

THE PERSISTENCE EFFECT AT WORK

If you limit your marketing activities to what you can realistically do well, it becomes possible to give your marketing the essential quality of consistency. Instead of just hearing from you once, people begin to hear your name over and over. They begin to think of you when you’re not in touch and send you referrals. But to make this happen, you have to do the work. Positive intentions alone won’t create clients without more help from you.

2. Rely on the Persistence Effect, not on magic.

When you begin to move purposefully in a specific direction, energy is created and things begin to happen. There is an interesting phenomenon that occurs when you get serious about marketing in a focused, consistent way. You begin to get results in unexpected places.

The phone rings, and it’s a prospect you spoke to three months ago saying they are suddenly interested in working with you. You go to a networking meeting that seems like a complete waste of time, and run into a hot new prospect in the elevator on your way out — who wasn’t even there for the meeting you went to. You get an exciting referral from someone whose name you don’t recognize. It’s almost as if the universe has noticed your dedication and decided to reward you.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that these out-of-the-blue opportunities are accidents. There is a direct connection between the level of effort you put into marketing and the results you get out of it — even when it seems like the results are completely unrelated to your efforts.

This marketing phenomenon is so common that I have named it the Persistence Effect. If you persist in making ten calls a day, every day, you will get business, but it won’t all come from the calls you made. If you consistently attend one networking event per week, clients will appear, but not necessarily from the events you attended. Don’t worry about why it works; just know that it works. And don’t confuse the Persistence Effect with magical thinking. Just creating a positive intention for something doesn’t have this kind of payoff. You have to do something about it.

USING PULL INSTEAD OF PUSH

Another way you may be preventing yourself from getting clients is refusing to choose a niche for your business or private practice. I know, I know, you don’t want to limit yourself. But the truth is that having a niche doesn’t limit you; it focuses you. If a client shows up at your door, of course you can choose to work with them, regardless of whether they fit into your niche. But to be effective at marketing, you need some kind of organizing principle for your outreach activities. The universe is too big to market to all of it.

3. Choose a niche and become known for it.

Returning to our metaphor of the water barrel, not having a niche is like running all over town to different water faucets instead of coming back to the same one each time. Even if you do have a bucket instead of a drinking glass, it’s inefficient. And worse, you might not even be able to find the faucets in all those unfamiliar places.

Not having a niche means that attracting clients is impossible. You must spend all your time pursuing clients; there’s nothing that brings them to you.

Your niche can be a target market, a specialty or both. For example, your target market might be “executive women” or “high-tech companies.” Your specialty could be “career transition” or “productivity improvement.” Having both a target market and a specialty to define your niche is ideal, e.g. “executive women in career transition,” or “productivity improvement for high-tech companies.”

When you identify a niche that works for you, you can become known in that niche. That way, clients start calling you. Usually, you begin by networking in your niche and ultimately graduate to writing, speaking, or teaching to establish yourself as an expert. Keep in mind that networking is not just going to a room and exchanging business cards; it’s creating a pool of contacts from which you can draw clients, referrals, resources, ideas, and information

You don’t have to wait for word of mouth within your niche; you can create it, by actively reaching out to others who are either in your niche themselves or serve your niche by what they do. For example if your niche is helping small business owners become financially successful, certainly you want to network with entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals. But you should also get to know accountants, small business attorneys, staff at entrepreneurship centers, career counselors, psychotherapists, business bankers, newsletter editors, merchant card providers… anyone who comes in contact with your niche on a daily basis.

Meet with them, call them, write to them, write for them, speak to them, and teach them. Following the first rule of choosing a few simple things to do and doing them consistently, this is completely within your grasp if you focus on one narrowly defined niche. If you leave your niche too broad or try to “cheat” by having several niches, your client universe becomes too large and you are once again spread too thin.

SELL THE SIZZLE, NOT THE STEAK

Imagine you went to an auto mechanic, and he told you he was going to lift the hood of your car, shine a light around, and move some parts up and down. Does this sound like a service you would pay for? Of course not. What you want to hear from the mechanic is that he will fix your car. If you’re not telling clients about the results your work produces and the benefits they will get from it, they will never see the value of it.

4. Market the results of your work, not the process you use.

If you were in my profession of business coaching, and someone asked you, “What is coaching?” you would be unlikely to enroll a client by saying, “We meet by phone for half an hour each week and talk about your goals.” That’s just the process – where’s the value?

A slightly better answer might be to say, “Coaching is a process for helping you get what you want.” Now you are stating some value. But an even better answer would be not to market “coaching” at all, but instead to market higher earnings, improved selling skills, or more fulfilling work. You would respond not with a definition, but with a statement of benefits: “I help my clients learn to make more money with less effort.”

Instead of offering tax preparation, an accountant could invite you to “save money on taxes.” Instead of selling logo design, a graphic designer could suggest “get your business noticed.” Rather than proposing a company retreat, a trainer could promise “improved teamwork and cooperation.”

Whenever possible, market benefits your clients can place a dollar value on. You’re asking them to write you a check, so if they can’t see a monetary benefit, they are much less likely to do it. In a corporate environment, talk about improved productivity or employee retention. With individuals, describe the benefits of a healthier lifestyle or better relationships. People need to see your service as the answer to an essential need they have. If you allow it to be something that’s just nice to have, you will either limit your market to clients with a budget for luxuries, or you’ll limit your rate to only what people will pay for something that’s nice but they don’t really need.

HELP IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

One of the most overlooked secrets to successful marketing is getting a hand from the people you already know. If you’re new, maybe you are waiting to become more successful before telling more people about your business. Or perhaps you have made up a rule that your personal life is supposed to be separate from your business. But the truth is that the people who already know you are likely to be the best contributors to your success.

5. Ask the people you already know for help.

If you always remember to tell everyone you know what you are doing and ask for their help, that one simple habit may bring you all the clients you need. Go through your address book, checkbook, holiday card list, club roster, and alumni directory, and count up how many people you know that aren’t yet aware of your business. Begin reaching out to those people with cards, letters, e-mails, or phone calls and let them know about what you do.

Instead of just asking for client referrals, treat these people as part of your network. Remember that networking is creating a pool of contacts from which you can draw clients, referrals, resources, ideas, and information. You can expand your network by asking the people you know who they know and contacting the people they refer you to.

In my earlier example of a niche serving business owners and self-employed professionals, I suggested getting to know accountants, small business attorneys, etc., as a way to become better connected in that niche. What if you were to ask your friends, family, colleagues, and all the people you do business with who their accountant is? Then get to know all those accountants. This is networking within your niche.

Always look for how you can make a relationship reciprocal. With other businesspeople, send them referrals whenever you can. If you have always referred people to your own accountant, instead give them three names and ask them to call all three before deciding. If you don’t know what the other person might need, ask them, “What can I do for you?” Get a network of people out there working for you so you don’t have to work so hard.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

I hope you have found the ideas in this report helpful. If you don’t yet own a copy of my book GET CLIENTS NOW!, I’d like to invite you to purchase it at http://amazon.com and sign up for Donna Payne’s Get Clients NOW! Seminar scheduled for September 1, 2009. REGISTER HERE.

Q: I saw your post about the Mary Kay lady bringing you some goodies. Do you think there is any way I can convince my wife, who is a Mary Kay Senior Sales Director, that she could expand her business using Facebook?

A: Tell her that not many “home party” ladies are socially savvy… and she should get her hiney on now!

Social media can help her gain exposure and lead her “herd”. She’s obviously a great leader and needs to lead her herd of consultants into 2009!

Since she’s a senior director – I would suggest she use FB and twitter for:

staying in regular contact with her consultants. Write on their wall, upload pics, share info and connect on a deeper level.

staying connected to her customers and gaining exposure to THEIR network of friends. <–very important! HUGE opportunities: a wedding post, prom posts, other special events that would allow her to step up and offer her services. Posting events, sharing resources, recruiting new consultants… I could go on!

Customers will NOT fall out of the sky for her, but she will definitely be right smack in front of them.

On a personal note, I created a social network for my neighborhood on Ning.com, and that’s how I MET my Mary Kay lady. Our neighborhood has over 90 homes and she is the”default” MK gal. Exposure doesn’t get much easier or cost effective than that!

If you know someone in the direct selling business, be EMPOWERED, and share this post with them! dp

A SIMPLE domain name – I can’t tell you how many times people have spent weeks trying to determine just the right domain name, only to come up with something that has no keywords or is a tongue-twister. Keep is simple folks. If your brilliant domain name is taken, go back to the white board – add a simple word like “The” (thewebcoach) or “Your”, (yourwebcoach) “e” (ewebcoach)… get it? Go through the alphabet if you have to.

Branding – today you can easily get a custom logo and/or brand identity with “contest” services like 99 Designs. Simply post what your desires are, and several graphic designers will post their concepts. You give feedback, pick, choose and eliminate the unfavorable ones and are left with a design. It’s very important to have a unified brand across all of your media outlets.

Copy – I can’t stress this enough. Seriously, folks. 9 times out of 10 your website is to be written to woo your VISITOR to take action and contact you or purchase something. If you can’t write compelling sales copy – you’d better hire someone. This is money well spent.

Articles – the simplest way you demonstrate your expertise. Articles are the introductory conversation you’ll have with your visitor at their convenience. They will learn how you will solve their problem, get a feel for you, and determine if you’re likeable enough to do business with.

Social media – Welcome to the relationship marketing age! At the very least, you MUST be on Facebook and Twitter. A website simply isn’t enough anymore. Personal connections are vital to survive in our economy, so get plugged in!

Follow up strategy – Autoresponders are the best for follow-up. Autoresponders are an automated series of emails sent on your behalf to keep in touch with your prospects.

FREEBIE! or as I say “your single point of entry” into your business. Everyone should give away a bit of valuable information to their prospect whether it’s from your website or brick n’mortar store. This give-away does come at a price to the prospect, but it’s not money, it’s their name and address (or email). This is the holy grail of all marketing because once you have this information, you can continue to market to that prospect forever.

Now it’s YOUR turn:

What steps do you need to take to implement the above strategies?

What support will you need? Do it yourself? Hire an expert?

When are you gonna do it? TODAY!

Donna Payne is the Chief Web Goddess of The Web Coach.net a web development, coaching and marketing firm, and is known as the gal to call when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Learn Money & Time Saving Techniques that everyone should know when working with a web designer or building a website yourself. Download your FREE “Quick-Start Web Workbook” and accompanying MP3 at http://thewebcoach.net “Know PAYNE – Know GAIN!”
Follow me on Twitter.com/TheWebCoach and lets connect on Facebook!

13 Lessons My Customers Taught Me This Year

When I conduct workshops or training sessions, I like to finish up with a little exercise called “Postcard Commitment.” Here’s how it works:

First, blank postcards are passed out to all attendees. They are instructed to self-address them.

Then, they are given five minutes to write on the back ONE THING they learned during the program … that they are committed to practicing in the next six months.

Next, the music starts. There is no talking. There is no sharing. It’s a private exercise. People are free to write as much or as little as they want.

When five minutes is up, the music stops. Then, attendees are required to turn in their postcards in the back of the room when the program is complete.

Finally, I take the postcards back to my office when I get home. I throw them in a box. Six to twelve months later, I pull the box out, stick a stamp on each postcard and mail it back to the attendee. Ultimately, the purpose of the exercise is to provide a check-up on how everyone’s practice is coming along.

It’s a pretty cool activity, even though I can’t exactly take credit for coming up with it. (I totally stole this little exercise from my friends @ Brains on Fire.)

Editors Note: How can you adapt this exercise in your business?

Biz/Life Coach: ask people what “they are committed to doing in 6 months” when they opt-in via a form on your website. Follow up as Scott did.

Financial Planner: ask “what’s your financial goal”

Health Professional: ask about “physical goals”

Marketing Guru: ask “what do you want your ROI to be”

Doesn’t matter what you do – you CAN do this too!

Anyway, what’s REALLY cool is when I actually get to READ the postcards. This happened last week… read the full post.

What people say about Donna

"This information is great. It is information that I didn't get anywhere else. I liked the nuts and bolts aspect with the reasons why explained as well."
--C.C.

"Donna knows her stuff and knows how to present it!"
--S.G.

"Donna illustrates her authenticity while being very professional. It's no wonder she has a huge following and you can too. I've learned a lot in a very short time. Thank you Donna for sharing your expertise."
-- J.Q.

"Donna you rock. Thanks so much for all the effort you put out to help me with my business"
-- C.C.

"WOW. I never even considered "HOW" I should be following or friending. You clearly spell it out for me. None of the guru's even mention this in their 2-3 hundred dollar seminars. I really love that your calls are SO AFFORDABLE and MEATY!
-- M.C.

"You provided the tools and action steps I need to become successful in social marketing - thank you!"
-- K.Z.

Thank you so much for doing this teleconference! As a newbie to social media, I really learned a lot -- and just may overcome my resistance to getting involved in that world! I apreciate your generosity & experience too
-- B.H.

I enjoyed the class very much! You had great information you provided and it really gave me some insights that i did not have before!
-- H.R.